Hidden Impacts

A good friend recently posed a great question to me, “how has your experience growing up poor impacted you as an investor?” Full-stop.

This was one of those questions that stopped me in my tracks, so good that it lingered on me for hours. And if I’m being honest, I sort of struggled to answer it, because while there’s no way I could doubt that it had impacted me, I’d never really spent time unpacking it and thinking about it.

The fact that it had impacted me was undeniable. Much of my personal identity, drive, and where I spend my personal time is tied into my experience growing up low SES. But the question of how it had concretely influenced me as an investor seemed elusive.

Hours later, as I tried to understand why it remained elusive, I realized that it’s because at this moment in my life, my background acts as more of a statement of fact. I neither wear it as a badge of shame nor as a badge of honor, though it’s certainly been both of those at different stages in my life.

Elusive or not, I found that the following traits are all related to the question of “how growing up poor impacts me as an investor.”

Once I had that realization, the fog started to clear. I was able to boil down my experience to four traits that are directly relevant to me as an investor. By no means is this an exhaustive list, but I think it will work as an answer to my friends question.

• I value and seek diverse opinions. I’m the product of mixed economic, mixed ethnic, mixed social, and mixed geographic worlds. As such, I understand that there is rarely one way to look at a problem or one way to answer a problem. It also means that I understand that blind spots exist, especially in my knowledge base. Specifically, I know there’s a lot about the world that I don’t know, and by seeking diverse opinion I find I do a better job of evaluating opportunities.
• I lean towards independence. To get to where I am, I went against the common path. I’ve had to figure things out on my own throughout my life. While this can be good at times, it’s also a weakness I continue to try hard to correct. I’ve been in enough situations where I felt lost or alone to know the power and importance of having strong mentors and a team around you to get things done — personally and professionally.
• I’m an intense observer of people. Turns out that watching people, reading about them, and learning what makes them tick doesn’t cost money. It’s something I’ve always been interested by, and something my Dad as a salesman always indulged. It’s a skill that helped me succeed in school, jobs, and during diligence. It’s the foundation of what allowed me to navigate successfully the constantly changing dynamics that growing up low SES came with — new schools, new homes, new friends, etc.
• I acutely understand the value of a network. I didn’t enter the workforce with a network other then the one Stanford provided me— and I got lucky that the Stanford network is phenomenal. Because I didn’t “inherent” a network, I work diligently to build it up. As an investor, my network helps me identify deals, diligence opportunities, and can help companies with hiring.

These represent just some of the many ways I’ve been impacted by growing up low SES as an investor. And while I’m certain there are many investors that excel at many of these areas that didn’t grow up low SES, this is just my story and how it influences me as an investor.